Phytotherapy in Integrative Oncology—An Update of Promising Treatment Options

Abstract

Modern phytotherapy is part of today’s conventional evidence-based medicine and the use of phytopharmaceuticals in integrative oncology is becoming increasingly popular. Approximately 40% of users of such phytopharmaceuticals are tumour patients. The present review provides an overview of the most important plants and nature-based compounds used in integrative oncology and illustrates their pharmacological potential in preclinical and clinical settings. A selection of promising anti-tumour plants and ingredients was made on the basis of scientific evidence and therapeutic practical relevance and included Boswellia, gingko, ginseng, ginger, and curcumin. In addition to these nominees, there is a large number of other interesting plants and plant ingredients that can be considered for the treatment of cancer diseases or for the treatment of tumour or tumour therapy-associated symptoms. Side effects and interactions are included in the discussion. However, with the regular and intended use of phytopharmaceuticals, the occurrence of adverse side effects is rather rare. Overall, the use of defined phytopharmaceuticals is recommended in the context of a rational integrative oncology approach.

Fundamental Considerations of Targeted Drug Therapies for Breast Cancer

“…Phytochemicals synthesized by plants with anti-tumor activity in breast cancer have a wider margin of safety. They can act synergistically with chemotherapeutic drugs to increase the efficacy of treatment and sensitize tumor cells to chemotherapy with the advantages of reducing the dose of the chemotherapy and reducing the adverse and toxic effects of chemotherapy (Table 2) [73,74], either by interacting pharmacologically (pure compounds administered separately) or by targeting and delivering of both compounds via nanocarriers.…”

Evaluation of Effect of β-Glucan on Cancer Cell Lines <i>In vitro</i>

“…The fast growth of chemistry in the 20th and 21st centuries, however, has made natural products less significant and stimulated high-throughput screens (HTS) of synthetic chemical libraries for drug discovery. However, the lack of chemical variety in synthetic compounds has led to a decline in therapeutic approvals and a return to medication development based on natural products [5]. β-Glucan has been shown to be extremely abundant and is one of the main fibers in algal, cell wall of plant, bacterial, and fungal.…”

Anti-Cancer Effects of Artesunate in Human 3D Tumor Models of Different Complexity

“…The use of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) by cancer patients is growing rapidly [1][2][3][4][5]. This trend is also reported for Natural Products [6,7], one of the main CAM categories defined by the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine [8]. The main reasons why cancer patients decide to use natural products include improvement of tumor response to standard cancer therapy, mitigation of therapy related side effects, boosting the immune system and increasing quality of life [9,10].…”